LA PLATA.– In the middle of the internal fight that exploded inside the peronism by Cristina Kirchner’s inheritancethe governor Axel Kicillof try as a strategy stand out and focus on their confrontation with the government of Javier Milei.
The president will not participate in the May Pact promoted by Milei. His bet is to manage and militate against the President. Although he expects a cut in his budget 700 million pesos This year, he’s hardly going to sit with Milei. She understands that Its political capital is among the mayors, in the unions, in the social movements and in the streets.
While in the province of Buenos Aires the discussion exploded over the remote leadership of Cristina Kirchner and the leadership of the Buenos Aires PJ exercised by her son Maximum, Kicillof avoids getting into that dispute, although his differences with the deputy are increasingly evident.
“No more commands by telephone,” was the slogan that emerged from the conclave of the Fifth October 17, in San Vicente. Perhaps a late replica of the last meeting of the national PJ, where the resignation of all the party’s vice presidents, including Kicillof, was demanded.
In it poskirchnerismo there is, at least, three positions. The majority of mayors recognize Kicillof as the driver. La Cámpora, with a dozen mayors, still responds to Maximo Kirchner. And a third sector believes that there is still room for the return of Sergio Massadespite the fact that today it has less power than its competitors.
The governor does not challenge the leadership of the former president. On the contrary, he claimed her figure in public, after the roar of San Vicente. His long-term bet is on him eventually being anointed as the natural successor and presidential candidate.
Kicillof seeks to show himself with a leadership style inverse to that of Máximo Kirchner, with “less telephone and more streets”.
He doesn’t want to drive the PJ. He does not push Máximo Kirchner out of the party, as several mayors do. But he let his ministers take care of the former president’s son. The Minister of Community Development, Andres LarroqueKirchner’s former partner in La Cámpora, raised his voice to question the leadership of Cristina Kirchner’s exegetes over the phone.
The governor plays in his own way: it was shown last week in three key events where the internal party gained volume and without Máximo Kirchner. First it was in Saint Vincentin an event called with the excuse of commemorating the presentation of Cristina Kirchner in Comodoro Py in 2016, which was a platform to discuss how the movement is organized.
Later, Kicillof showed himself in Ensenada, a bastion of Peronism, after presenting two lawsuits against the National Executive Branch before the Supreme Court for the cuts in education and transportation funds ordered by Milei. There he was anointed by Mario Seccowho has been in office for five terms and is a reference for other mayors, the sole leader of the mayors.
Nothing is coincidental: Ensenada was the district where the Kirchnerism small table operated during Cristina Kirchner’s vice presidency. Secco sent a signal inwards: management already has a successor.
After being endorsed by Larroque and Secco, Kicillof went to Quilmes already Hurlinghambut the mayors Mayra Mendoza and Damián Selci received him with greater coldnessas a reflection of the event in San Vicente.
The board tensed. At the San Vicente rally it was explicit that Cristina’s leadership is not transferable to Máximo Kirchner. But a handful of mayors are willing to set the tone for Máximo Kirchner: the national deputy is far from resigning from the political position in favor of him, despite the fact that Jorge Ferraresi – increasingly closer to Kicillof – tries on the suit of president of the Buenos Aires PJ.
Sergio Massa is not shown under Kicillof’s leadership either. And some ministers of the Buenos Aires government, like Larroque, have already begun to say that the Peronists who do not collaborate with Kicillof “they are in a strange situation”.
Kicillof built bridges with the former presidential candidate last week, add allies of Massa in his governmentas Sandra Mayol, in the Ministry of Transportation. He also speaks with other Peronist governors, especially in the north, to establish a position on key issues, such as the restoration of the income tax.
This Tuesday he will march with the columns of unions in defense of the national universities. Possibly there he will run into other leaders, such as Mariano Recalde, one of those who put a ceiling on the governor by stating that it is not time to discuss leadership. Oblivious to that fight, Kicillof will focus on ordering the resistance to President Milei from the largest district in the country.